BROADWAY

By Enid Nemy

Published: May 2, 1986

IT doesn't seem that long ago, but that, of course, depends on who is doing the talking.

The year was 1955 and a group of young people in Chicago calling themselves the Compass began what was one of the first, if not the first, professional improvisational theaters in the country. Eventually, that group evolved into Second City and, between the two, sent an extraordinary list of young men and women on to fame and fortune - Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Alan Arkin, Stiller and Meara, Joan Rivers and Alan Alda were just a few.

That was then. What's now is that Paul Sills, founder of the Compass, is returning to New York with his improvisational theater games, and such players as Paul Dooley, MacIntyre Dixon and Garry Goodrow. The show, completely improvised for each performance, is called ''Sills and Company'' and will open at the Lamb's Theater (130 West 44th Street) May 29, with guest stars dropping in from time to time.

Mr. Sills, who thinks of himself as a coach rather than a director, and who has been playing his theater games in Los Angeles the last few years, said he wanted to make it clear that improvisation was not the sole ingredient in the performance.

''It's theater,'' he said. ''It has spontaneity and it appeals to witty, intelligent people, but at the same time, it isn't esoteric.''

It's very likely going to be the first musical of the new season, and there will be something like $1.2 million riding on it when it opens at the Biltmore Theater in late July. It's called ''Honky Tonk Nights'' and if it sounds a tiny bit familiar, it's because it was a workshop production in 1983 when, theoretically, any and all blips were ironed out. One change made immediately was a new score, a project undertaken by Michael Valenti.

Riding in with this tale of music-hall performers from the predominantly black section of Hell's Kitchen in 1912, will be Larry Stewart, Theresa Burrell, Ira Hawkins, Reginald Vel Johnson and Dan Strathorne. They'll be playing everything from comedians and hoofers to a swaggering con man and a streetwise deal maker. And because a name like ''Honky Tonk Nights'' almost demands it, there will also be a group of flashy young girls known as the Creole Belles.

Ralph Allen, who was responsible for some of the material in ''Sugar Babies,'' has writing credit, together with David Campbell, and Ernie Flatt, another ''Sugar Babies'' alumnus, is doing the directing and choreographing. Edward H. Davis and Allen M. Shore have already done a major part of their work - they're the producers.

''The Fantasticks,'' the longest-running legitimate show in American theater history, will close June 8 after 10,864 performances. ''It will be a joyous occasion, going out a winner,'' said Lore Noto, who both produces and performs. The show, written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt and directed by Word Baker, opened May 3, 1960.

Ron Silver twinkles a little when he says ''I think I dwindled into being an actor,'' the kind of twinkle that translates to ''maybe I'm serious and then again, maybe I'm not.'' What he dwindled from was an early ambition to join the intelligence arm of the government.

Mr. Silver, who is co-starring with Marlo Thomas in ''Social Security,'' studied at universities in Taiwan and Spain and speaks a number of languages, including Chinese. He changed his mind about life as an agent in 1969, just about the time he was thrown into jail in the Soviet Union. It was a minor offense (carrying Chinese material into the country) and the incarceration lasted only a few days but it was enough to make Mr. Silver realize that he was, as he said, ''in over my head.''

Mr. Silver, who considers himself a craftsman, rather than an artist, said that one of his problems as an actor is that his eye is that of an editor. ''I see the whole - it would be better to see singly,'' he said.

When he takes on a new role, he usually sits down and makes voluminous notes, he said.

''It's all totally lost when instinctual fusion starts,'' he said. ''But there has to be a form at the back of the mind.'' How would he sum up his profession? ''What we do is a deliberate distortion of the truth to get at a greater truth,'' he said.

The Russian Tea Room is second home to a number of theater people and, for the last decade, the first booth on the left - a prime location - belonged to Ruth Gordon and her husband, Garson Kanin, whenever they were in New York. Miss Gordon died last year and on Monday, her framed photograph will be mounted above the table, a first for the restaurant.

Young people reading about it wonder how it could have happened - but it did - and ''1951,'' which begins Wednesday, recreates the events of what was often called the ''Hollywood inquisition.'' The New York Theater Workshop production explores the blacklisting of artists during that era with original material, trial transcripts and biographical information put together by Anne Bogart, who is also directing, and Mac Wellman. Michael Roth wrote the music. It will be at the Perry Street Theater, 31 Perry Street (279-4200).

''Heartbreak'' was the name given an area in a Vietnamese prison where interrogation and torture took place, and ''A Place Called Heartbreak,'' by Robert S. Stokes, is a drama about prisoners of war 24 hours before they were repatriated by American forces. The cast of 12 men is directed by a woman, Ellen Cannon. Previews begin May 14 at the Clurman Theater, 412 West 42d Street (594-2370).

The Mystery Writers of America have voted a special award to Rupert Holmes for ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood,'' the first to go to a Broadway play since 1982, when ''A Talent for Murder'' was chosen.

Another benefit's coming up Tuesday at 5:30 P.M. A check for $100 will help the South Street Theater on West 42d Street and open the door to Chez Josephine, a new and nearby restaurant named for Josephine Baker, the owner's mother. There'll be Julie Harris and champagne. Head for 414 West 42d Street (564-0660).

Closing May 11, after 1,299 performances, will be ''Brighton Beach Memoirs,'' currently the longest-running drama on Broadway, and the second longest-running Neil Simon play. ''Barefoot in the Park,'' which opened in 1963, went 1,530 performances.